Cucumber Salad with Almonds and Shiso

I made this salad out of what my grandmother would call "sheer cussedness". It wasn't necessary, it wasn't even wanted, and yet I made it. I made it during a week that was a blur of trips to Paris, miles walked, sights seen, crêpes eaten, family events caught up on. We cooked some fantastic and simple meals together, but this salad didn't really fit in to any of them. Still, I was not about to let the cucumber I had stubbornly bought go to waste. So one evening when the others were taking a bike trip around Paris, Claire and I stayed home and ate frittata (to use up leftovers) and cucumber salad. Now that's sheer cussedness (with some laziness thrown in for good measure...)

The salad is pretty simple; even so, I made a few adjustments. I didn't have any slivered almonds, so I sliced some of the roasted unsalted almonds in my freezer. I also wasn't willing to cross town to buy enough shiso to make one tablespoon, so I chopped up some arugula and also added a bit of cilantro and mint.

And the final salad? It's certainly not terrible: I ate a large helping that night and another one today at lunch (and once Julia discovered the rest, she powered through the lot). I like the almonds in it, and it has an interesting Asian flair. But I wouldn't make it again because 1) cucumbers aren't my favorite vegetable and 2) the rest of the family doesn't really go for sesame oil. But if you like those two ingredients, I would try this, maybe with a bit of chili paste or red pepper flakes to add even more interest. But don't force yourself: as my friend pointed out to me when I suggested making this to go with dinner, there are plenty of other good cucumber recipes out there.

Corn Salad with Avocados and Lime

When I first offered corn on the cob to my Franco-German husband Sami, he looked somewhat horrified. "What's this? We give this to pigs in Europe!" Sure, he was used to canned corn in everything from salad to pizza, but on the cob? Not so much. Now he'll eat good sweet corn, but he doesn't search it out.
All this to say that corn on the cob, and especially good corn, is not the easiest thing to find here in France. Fortunately, I live in a town with a lot of foreigners, and there are vendors at the market who cater to our strange tastes. Thus I was able to buy (kind of mediocre) corn at the "special price" of three for 3 Euros!

But that was the most difficult part about making this delicious salad. I began by marinating a couple of scallions and a clove of chopped garlic in the juice of two limes and some salt for about half an hour (while I briefly cooked the corn and fixed the main course: macaroni and cheese). This toned down the raw onion/garlic bite quite a bit.
I then chopped up a large handful of cherry tomatoes and cut the corn off the cob. Those went into the salad bowl to wait until dinner was almost ready.

  I then went to cut up what turned out to be the Avocados of My Discontent. It's a shame that avocados, as expensive as they are, can be such a crapshoot.

But I salvaged quite a bit from them, and added them to the salad along with a bit of olive oil and some chopped (frozen) cilantro. And there I had a delicious salad with sweetness and crunch along with the tart bite of lime offset by the creamy avocados. I think that if I made this again, I might add a good pinch of red pepper flakes or even chopped chipotle peppers. It's a great salad but might also make a great quesadilla topper or taco filling. If I had regular access to great (and affordable) corn, this salad would definitely become part of my regular lineup.

Honey-Roasted Carrot Salad

I am not a very good side dish person. I would like to be, but by the time I've done the main course, I don't want to do any more washing/chopping/dressing. I just want to sit down and eat. It's a shame, because I really enjoy vegetables and salads once they're cooked.

I'm glad I decided to make this salad, though, because it was really easy (I had the oven on for the main dish anyway) and super delicious. Most of the time when I think of carrot salad, I think of the ubiquitous grated carrot salad with a lemon vinaigrette that is available in most cafeterias and supermarkets here. This salad is nothing like that. The carrots are roasted until almost done and then brushed with a honey-olive oil sauce (I added a generous pinch of that Aleppo pepper that Melissa enjoys so much) and roasted some more. You also roast some nuts in that same sauce: the recipe called for almonds, but I decided to substitute pistachios so that I'd have an excuse to buy some, open the package, and snack on the remaining nuts.

All you do then is crack open a bag of greens (the recipe called for arugula, but no-one in our family really enjoys arugula salad), make a simple lemon-olive oil vinaigrette (I punched it up with whole-grain mustard, as Melissa suggests), toss in the carrots and nuts, and enjoy a delightful salad. There were 7 of us at dinner, and everyone seemed to enjoy the salad: several people commented on it, and Julia kept an anxious eye on the salad as it went around, hoping for seconds. I loved the nutty, sweet, tangy, spicy flavor combination and also the combination of room temperature vegetables and cold salad greens. I would certainly make this again. A couple of variations that would be nice: using cumin and coriander and/or raz el hanout (the Moroccan spice blend) in the honey blend (North Africans do a lot of cooked carrot salads, it seems), adding avocado to the salad, just eating the carrots and nuts as is (we love glazed carrots around here).

Tomato, Arugula, and Blue Cheese Salad

Here's a recipe from the August 2001 Bon Appetit, not available on Epicurious. It's a good recipe--I made it just with big tomatoes from the marked and regular lettuce since the family doesn't really like arugula. Still, I'm posting it more or less as written so that it's out there for you to adapt at will. It's a simple recipe, but not an obvious combination, and the blue cheese really does accent the tomatoes nicely. Make it quick, while tomatoes are still ripe and delicious!

Tomato, Arugula, and Blue Cheese Salad

Serves 6-8

6 T. olive oil

3 T. sherry vinegar

3 T. minced shallots (1 medium-large shallot)

3 large tomatoes, cut into wedges

1 basket cherry tomatoes, halved

1 basket yellow pear tomatoes, halved

6 oz. arugula, washed and dried

4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled

Whisk together the oil, vinegar, and shallots; season to taste with salt and pepper. If you have time, put the cut-up tomatoes in the dressing to marinate for a while. When you're ready to serve, pour a bit of the dressing on the arugula in a large bowl and toss. Then scatter the marinated tomatoes and blue cheese over.

A Salad Even I Could Love

I have a love-hate thing going with salad. I love salad when someone else makes it; I hate it when I have to make it myself.
My father and my mother-in-law are salad making pros, in their own different ways. My father has been the family salad chef since I can remember. His salads almost always include lettuce (usually the bagged greens), tomato, avocado, some kind of canned bean (though this seems to have fallen out of favor recently), and recently some kind of fruit (a family favorite is persimmon). And always Good Seasons Italian from the packet, made with balsamic vinegar and good olive oil. We had this salad just about every night, and I think he still makes it on a regular basis. Why fool with a good thing? He says he and his wife go through a bag of greens in about two days.
My mother-in-law, a German woman living in France, makes beautiful salads. We almost always begin our meal with salad there. Sometimes it's a simple green salad with onions and herbs and a simple vinaigrette. Sometimes there are tomatoes and cucumbers and olives. Usually for her it's just a matter of seeing what's in the fridge and putting that in the salad. But it's always beautifully arranged on a platter, and because this is France, the produce is almost always flavorful and beautiful. I once ate at Thomas Keller's Bouchon in Las Vegas and ordered the green salad. It was beautifully prepared and presented and tasted just like my mother-in-law's green salad.
But me--meh. Somehow, after I've done all the chopping and mixing and cooking of the day's main dish, I don't want to be bothered with chopping and mixing a salad. Steaming broccoli or roasting asparagus is much easier, in my book. But every month, as part of my random menu planning, I include four (randomly selected, of course) salad recipes and swear to myself that I'm going to get it right. Last night, I got it right and everyone was happy.
It was a Successful Meal in general, last night. We had lamb chops marinated in rosemary, garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, and soy sauce and then grilled by Dr. D himself. Budget tip: at Dorignac's, where I go to buy lamb, you could get rib chops for $9.99 a pound, or you could get sirloin lamb chops for $3.99 a pound. Those sirloin babies were tender and flavorful, even though there was some bone-chewing to be done (fortunately, Dr. D enjoys this). OK, we also had mashed potatoes with some cooked kale thrown in because it was in the fridge (call it colcannon if you like, but it's delicious) and also some chives. And I made this salad, which I found in a back issue of Bon Appetit. It's got tomatoes and feta and olives--what's not to like? Bonus: no leftovers!

Romaine Salad with Feta Dressing
Adapted from the September 2001 issue of Bon Appetit
Serves 4 with no leftovers!

2 T. whole milk
1-1/2 T. red wine vinegar
1 T. ( I used half a small lemon) lemon juice
1 large garlic clove, cut in half--you'll use each half for different purposes
1/2 cup olive oil
3 oz. feta, crumbled
2 T. Parmesan
1/2 cup Kalamata or other olives you like, pitted
About 2/3 of a head of romaine, chopped in shreds or torn--however you like it
1 basket of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Get out your food processor, blender, or mini-chopper (I used the latter). Put in it the milk, vinegar, lemon juice, and half the garlic clove. Blend/pulse this until the garlic is all chopped up. Then, while the machine is running, add 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Once that's mixed in, add the feta and Parmesan. Taste for salt and pepper--I found this needed little salt but lots of pepper. Consider that you're going to have a strong and salty tapenade on your salad as well as the dressing.
Pour the feta dressing into a bowl and rinse out your machine. Now put in your machine the olives, the other half of the garlic clove, and the rest of the olive oil, and process that until you have a nice paste or tapenade. I made mine kind of semi-chunky--you should go with the texture you like.
Now you're coming down the home stretch! Put your lettuce and tomatoes in your salad bowl and toss them with the feta dressing. Then drizzle it with the tapenade and be prepared for your family to say, "Ewww, what's that?" and then devour the whole thing.